Crafting Everyday Matters in the Middle and Late Woodland Periods

Abstract

A defining characteristic of the Middle Woodland period is the prevalence of craft goods of stone, bone, shell, and metal, which originated frequently from exotic sources and were often fashioned into non-utilitarian, symbolically-charged products. In the processual heyday, archaeologists devoted considerable attention on the perceived control of the production and exchange of these exotic goods and what it may say about the political and economic power of elites, and, by extension, their societies. In this chapter, the authors suggest that this emphasis on the political- and ritual-economic contexts for craft production may obscure an important point: specifically, that crafting was rooted in the everyday rhythms of domestic life, by which the authors mean the networks of relationships with other people and other objects. Reviewing the archaeological record for two large Middle Woodland populations and ceremonial centers – Kolomoki in southwestern Georgia and Crystal River in west-central Florida (Figure 9.1) – the authors argue that a low level of craft production was common to domestic contexts.